Is a Non-Professional Legal Studies degree worth it?
Across 38 schools, graduates of Non-Professional Legal Studies earn a median $62,159 five years out on $24,564 of debt. Graduates most commonly work as Paralegals and Legal Assistants (modeled from the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$62,159
Median debt
$24,564
Years to pay off
3.6
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
53%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+0.1%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
7.7%
$66,235 vs $61,143
Net price
$20,885/yr
Debt-test failures
13.3%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$1,282
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Non-Professional Legal Studies in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.